Auburn eyes locked onto a closed door. It seemed to conceal year's worth of memories, waiting to be released and accepted. The man pushed back his short red hair, stressed that he was forced to stand in front of the entrance because of redundant reasons, which he never would have succumbed to, if it weren't for curiosity and a compelling desire to reminisce the days of his teen years. Sasori closed his eyes and, gripping onto the metallic handle tightly, opened the door into the oversized school gymnasium.

It had been 20 years since he had last entered the gym, let alone walked in the halls of Tsukoni High School. He had received a letter in the mail by one of his closer friends, Kisame, saying that there was a reunion coming up and that he should attend. Kisame stated that the majority of their old High School group of friends--which had been un-officially called Akatsuki for some unknown reason--would be coming, too.

The redhead never actually wanted to go. He had planned a few years back after receiving spam e-mails from that he would never attend a High School Reunion, just for the reason that he didn't want the depression from High School times to return. Life was going good for him at the moment. And he wanted it to stay that way.

But he eventually changed his mind. And it wasn't just the letter that changed his mind. It was one phrase in the letter that made him contemplate: "majority of their old group of friends." There was that key word--"majority." What was the majority? Everyone? Three people? Sasori didn't know the answer. But he had to admit, he wanted to know.

But, out of all his curiosity, there was one thing that made him the most curious. And that was if his old best friend was returning to see him and the others.

Back in High School, Sasori was just one of the regular loners. He had his large group of friends, sure; however, he always preferred to work alone. That was, until a certain blonde boy came into his life.

Deidara. Probably the one person Sasori could ever truly open up to without feeling criticized or chastised. The boy understood him--sometimes, a little too well, he always thought. The two were always never seen apart, except for the occasional class differentiations. All four years of traumatic torture in a classroom was countered by their friendship. They were happiest together.

But, as Sasori feared, all true happiness must come to an end, one way or another. Deidara graduated and almost instantly had to move with his family halfway around the world, and Sasori instantly lost contact with his best friend. Year after year after year went by without a single word from him, and Sasori eventually got the feeling that their friendship had been nothing but a lie hidden by smiles. After that incident, Sasori had built a wall around himself, concealing himself from the harms of the outside world.

But now, here he was, standing inside the familiar room, breathing in the stinging scent of recently polished wooden floors, looking anxiously around a crowd of familiar, yet unknown, people for even a sign that his old friend would show up. Nobody had to tell him: Sasori already knew he was a horrible hypocrite, and he censured himself for that on his way over to the reunion.

"Akasuna! Hey!"

Sasori turned to his left to see a familiar face. Kisame Hoshigake stood in front of him, looking the same as he had 20 years before, except about 5" taller than his original height of 6' and a bit longer hair.

"Hey, Kisame! Figured I would see you here."

"Yeah, well, no duh! I was the one that got you into this stupid mess, remember?" Kisame chuckled.

"Heh. You got that right." Sasori greeted the blue man with their old "secret hand shake"--which, as the rest, never really was a secret.

"Hehe…Can spot you a mile away, Akasuna! Still that same ol' red pom-pom, I see!"

"And you've changed your hair?"

"Can't ya tell? It's a bit darker, am I right?" Kisame patted his hair, still blue and spiked.

"Looks the same to me, but whatever." Sasori shrugged his shoulders and placed a hand on his hip. "So who else is here? This is a Reunion, right? Well I want to "reunite" with people…not be kept-"

"-waiting" Kisame finished for him. "Yeah, yeah…same ol' Impatient Sasori."

"You know it," Sasori said.

"Okay, I think I might have seen Itachi in here a while ago…but I'm not sure…wanna go check?" Kisame grinned big and gestured for Sasori to follow.

Sasori sighed. "I don't see what else there is to do…"

Kisame led the way, darting in and out of the crowd, looking over people's heads--which was, in fact, basically just looking around, as his head was higher than any other was--for the Uchiha. Eventually, the tall man spotted raven black hair complemented by striking red eyes. He turned to Sasori, "Hey! I think I see him! Let's go!"

"Wait, wh-" Sasori was unexpectedly pulled through a mob of people chatting and into an open area, where a young man stood alone.

Kisame smiled and waved a hand, trying to catch the boy's attention, "Hey, Itachi-san!"

The boy looked up at Kisame. His long black hair nearly covering the entire front side of his face, and the rest of it tied back into a tight ponytail, which trailed down the center of his back. "Itachi? That's my elder brother… I'm Sasuke."

Kisame's smile faded fast and quickly shifted to a surprised expression. "Oh really? No way! You look just like him! I could have sworn you were Itachi!"

Sasuke glared at him. "Don't remind me. I don't even want to be related to him."

Kisame backed off a little bit. "Oh, okay…well, have you seen your brother? Is he here?"

The Itachi-look-alike turned his head to the side doors. "Yeah. He's outside. He's with the rest of your old gang, Akasuchi."

Sasori corrected him, "Akatsuki."

"Whatever," Sasuke remarked. "Anyways, he ran outside. Some sort of commotion."

"Commotion?" Sasori asked.

"Yeah. Something about a long-lost friend returning from half way around the world, or-" Sasuke looked back at the two, only to find the tall blue man being dragged outside by the redhead, "-something." He looked after them. Huh, he thought, must know what's going on…